Death on the Ice: The Great Newfoundland Sealing Disaster of 1914

by Cassie Brown and Harold Brown, Cassie; Horwood

Book Overview

Each year, for generations, poor, ill-clad Newfoundland fishermen sailed out "to the ice" to hunt seals in the hope of a few pennies in wages from the prosperous merchants of St. John's. The year 1914... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385251793
• ISBN13: 9780385251792
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Doubleday Canada
• Length: 217 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 13 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 8 to 12

Customer Reviews

Most gripping book I've ever read!

I knew, in advance, that this book was historically and factually accurate. What I didn't know was how "visual" it would be. I was hooked from page one!Newfoundland's history is not one for the faint of heart. Typically, it includes tales of remarkable hardship, endured by even more remarkable people. This was no exception.This story will open the eyes of those who know little of Newfoundland's evolution. Readers will feel the biting cold of being trapped on the Arctic ice in a blizzard. They will wince when they read of subtle incidents that could have changed this tragic event.I finished this book four days ago, but I haven't shaken the chill of it yet!

A chilling, haunting saga of the best and worst of men

No one should miss reading this tale of the greed of "swiler" (seal) captains and merchants...and the innocence and courage of those poor souls who they commanded. As I stood and the gravestone which marked the burial of 3 members of the Jordan family in Pouch Cove, Newfoundland who perished in this incident...I could only choke by the understatement written on the Marker: "Killed on the ice-fields April 1, 1914" That the mores of these times did not regard these deaths (and the other 70 odd others) as the most treacherous form of murder is astonishing.

Newfoundlanders prove the world what happen in 1914....

I think that this book was that best i ever read. The people that died and survive showed what Newfoundlanders have to do and put thier lives into danger just to put food on their table. I only wish that someone in the world today do a movie on Death on the ice just like the titanic. This book is the best and prove what newfoundlanders went true in there lives.

Unbelievable the disregard for human life.

I couldn't put this book down. It was unbelievable as to how the sealers were treatedand the disregard for human life. Great book for anyone, specially people who is familar with Newfoundland or has some family ties. My father's family all from Newfoundland

This is a fantastic read.

I read Death on the Ice during the Christmas-New Years week of 1993-94 and it still haunts me five years later. I don't have a particular interest in sealing or maritime disasters, but I had travelled to St. John's, Newfoundland in November 1993 and wanted to pick up a local interest book. It took a little while to really get interested in the tale, as there are numerous characters all of whom are introduced in the first chapters of the book. But the writing is so concise and poetic, that once the action was fully underway, I couldn't put it down. The description of the tragedy as it unfolds on the ice is rivoting. I read through most of one night to finish it and it is one of only two books I have read the actually brought tears to my eyes.